Nashville --- The Tennessee State University basketball team
saw the game slip away in a disappointing, 57-55, loss to Jacksonville State in
the first round of the OVC tournament, Wednesday night in the Municipal
Auditorium.

Tennessee State (9-21) led 31-15 at halftime but
Jacksonville State (10-20) outscored
the Lady Tigers , 42-24, in the second half, to help pick up the win. In the
opening nine minutes of the second half, JSU used a 20-4 run to erase a
16-point deficit.

Jasmin Shuler came off the bench to lead the Lady Tigers in
scoring with 21 points behind seven three-pointers while Kim Haynes finished
with 13 points. Destiney Gaston recorded a game-high 11 rebounds for TSU.

Jacksonville State had three players to score in
double-digits led by Brittany Manning's 17 points. Brittany Wiley had 14 points
while Danielle Vaughn added 10.

Both teams got off to a rocky start as the score was only
2-0, in favor of TSU, at the first media timeout. After trading the lead for a
couple of possessions, a three-pointer by Meredith Stafford sparked a 9-0 run
that gave TSU a, 15-5, lead at the 10:05 mark.

Jasmine Shuler caught fire and nailed three triples to
increase the Lady Tiger advantage to 21-9 with 8:37 left in the half.

TSU outscored JSU, 10-6, the remainder of the half to go
into the break leading, 31-15.

The second half was a different story as Jacksonville State
used a quick six unanswered points to chop TSU's lead down to, 31-21. Another
triple from Jasmin Shuler gave the Lady Tigers their first points of the half
and put TSU up, 34-21, before an 11-0 spurt from the Gamecocks narrowed the gap
down to just two, 34-32, with 13:25 left in the half.

JSU grabbed its first lead of the game, 36-35, following a
couple of free-throws by Brittany Manning. After trading the lead for a couple
of possessions, Jacksonville State went ahead, 41-38, with 7:56 remaining.

Moments later, Jasmin Shuler nailed a triple to knot the
game at 41-all. The teams continued to battle and the lead wavered
back-and-forth.

With 2:20 on the clock, TSU took a 53-49 lead behind a
three-pointer from Kim Haynes. The Gamecocks, however, answered right back with
consecutive buckets from Manning.

TSU was trailing, 55-53, when Destiney Gaston was fouled.
She stepped up to the line to knock down two freebies to even the score, 55-55,
with 23.4 seconds on the clock.

On the Gamecocks' trip down the floor, Brittany Wiley hit a
jumper in the paint with five seconds left to put JSU on top, 57-55.

After inbounding the ball, Kim Haynes received it back and
went the length of the court. She put up a shot just before the buzzer but it
bounced off the rim.

Tennessee State shot 30.5 percent (18-of-59) from the field,
including 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from three-point range. Jacksonville State shot 35.6 percent
(21-of-59) from the field and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from beyond the arc.